The hall had already been holding its breath long before the portal finished forming.
Every divine and origin stage expert stood coiled tight, senses stretched thin as wire. This was the worst possible moment for an intrusion. Leon sat unmoving at the center of it all, suspended in lotus position, his presence quiet yet overwhelming, like a star about to ignite.
Whatever was happening to him was delicate. Sacred. If disrupted, no one could guess the cost.
And yet the void split open anyway.
Energy surged. Weapons half formed. Laws trembled.
Selena stood near the front, her spine straight, her hands clenched so tightly her nails bit into her palms. Darian was beside her, solid as a wall, while Luke and the newly risen SSS ranks took position behind the origin stage experts without being told.
No one panicked. No one spoke. If something hostile came through that gate, it would not take a second step.
